


Comfortably Content

by Penstrokes



Category: Super Science Friends (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, was a request fic but the requester forgot so now it's just a fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-07-06 02:57:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15877068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Penstrokes/pseuds/Penstrokes
Summary: It's another rainy day in England and Big Ben is mostly quiet. Curie wants some company and she finds it with the one person who doesn't get along with many on the team.





	Comfortably Content

**Author's Note:**

> Shout out to Tyranical for helping me bridge the two halves of the fic together

 

Big Ben was quiet today. The soft pitter patter of the rain that seemed to be as much a part of England as the sun belonged in the sky. It wasn’t there every single day, yet it was a constant enough presence that it’s absence was notable. 

 

There were no missions yet, no exercises- team building or physical- that Churchill saw a need to round them all up and take part in. Einstein was in his room, Freud, Tappupti and Darwin were god knew where. Curie had a sneaking suspicion that Freud and Tappupti were up to something together. She didn’t want to let her mind wander there at all. 

 

Darwin was most likely studying his specimens or gathering new ones. Walking past his door, she stopped and listened. There didn’t seem be much noise if any coming from there.

 

Perhaps he was taking a nap, or drinking tea. She recalled how he liked how the subtle warmth of the tea seemed to mesh well with the quietness of gentle rainfall. The two were at odds and yet they brought out the best of each other. Curie laid a hand on his door, contemplating. 

 

She could use someone to talk to and she always enjoyed Darwin’s company. They had had some history together, before….back in the old days. 

 

The old days. There was someone else missing from her life, from then. Not just Pierre, although her heart longed for him every day. Albert had been another close friend, another man who had seen her for what she was, what she wanted to be. 

 

Strong.

 

Smart.

 

Equal. 

 

It was hard to leave someone behind, as if Pierre hadn’t been a testament to that already. Einstein had helped soften that blow, the slow, suffering effects of leaving so much of your life behind not just in place but in time. Freud had been brought in help sort these feelings out but to her, he only made them more prominent.

 

How his comments seemed to do nothing but jab her in places and insinuations she didn’t want to even be brought up. It was those days that she longed for Einstein the most. His reassuring words, his smile. His laugh. 

 

His presence.

 

Gone. 

 

Curie’s hand drew away from the door, fingers curling back into her palm as if she were burned. No, she couldn’t deal with the rawness of grief that churned beneath her level headed steeliness. 

 

It would have to be another time, then.

 

Curie walked further down the halls, her steps echoing softly along the uncarpeted hallways of Big Ben. Further down, passed the rooms of her other team mates. 

 

She had no desire to see Albert, not when all she’d see was the man he was made to replace. He had his fleeting childhood to chase. She wasn’t going to take that away from him more than the war already had. 

 

She reached the door she’d been looking for, her last resort in her pool of limited choices. Curie knocked on the door, certain that Nikola would be there. He almost always was unless he was in the bathroom or on his lengthy daily walks. 

 

She briefly wondered if he’d still walk in the rain. She’d never asked nor wondered until now.

 

There wasn’t much reason for her to then.

  
  


It didn’t take long for Nikola to emerge from his room, still in his full suit. She needn’t guess what it was he’d been doing. He did few things and was dedicated to them all. 

 

“Oh, Madam Curie. Uh, what are you doing here?” He asked, opening the door wider. She could see better inside his room that also doubled as his lab. 

 

How would she describe it? A need for companionship? Out of curiosity of his work? 

 

“I thought I would stop by.” She answered, offering a rare smile. “May I come in?” 

  
  
  


Tesla’s lab was neat as always and probably the most sanitary of them all. She’d helped him disinfect the place on more than one occasion, despite knowing that he was most likely safe from the components in his own lab. She’d obliged anyway when he’d asked. 

 

“Did Churchill send you?” Tesla asked, closing the door behind him. He’d been in the midsts of tinkering with his equipment, a bout of creative genius had struck him as the half finished machine lay in front of them. 

 

“No, Churchill’s got his own things to do. I haven’t seen or heard from him since this morning. I came to see if you needed some assistance.” She explained, hiding the real reason she’d come. That she’d come for companionship, to evade the ghosts of the not too distant past. 

 

“Generally, I like to work alone. It helps me work better, less distractions.” Tesla responded, showing off his newest creation. Curie wondered if it was a request from Churchill or just a fanciful idea that had popped into Tesla’s head. 

 

“I hope I’m not distracting you, Tesla.” Curie apologized as she admired the inner workings of the machine. 

 

“No, no, not at all. If it were any one else, I’d have turned them away. You, however, you know how to be precise, how to be helpful.” Tesla smiled, somewhere between honesty and flattery. 

 

“You, my dear, are a real scientist.” He complimented, clearing a spot for her to sit and better and watch. 

 

Curie let the back handedness towards the others slide, she knew what he thought of the others. 

 

“What are you working on?” She asked, finally.

 

“I’m making a replacement to the engine in the Science Mobile. The old one is fine, but I could improve the efficiency by almost fifty percent if I can just make these adjustments to the new engine. Of course, I’m going to need to remove the old engine to put in the new one.” He paused, making a face of disgust at the thought of taking it out. He’d no problem putting it together and building it from the ground up. 

 

“I could help you change the engine. You’re not going to want to keep the old engine for anything are you?” She inquired, adjusting her ring.

 

“I haven’t decided yet, why?” Tesla asked, marking up the blueprint before them. 

 

“I was thinking, I could just disintegrate the old engine and put in the new engine. That way we could put it in easier.” She pointed out, gesturing to the blueprint. 

“It looks like it’s going to be a tight fit anyway.” 

 

“I”m sure it’ll be fine.” Tesla waved it off. “Besides, it wouldn’t be the first time you’ve had to be precise.” 

 

“Did Churchill ask you to upgrade the Science Mobile?” Curie asked as she studied the blueprint to get a better idea of how she was going to handle installing the engine. She hadn’t installed the original, it’d been entirely Tesla’s doing. She had, however, helped with some of his other projects, when he needed precision his bigger hands couldn’t afford him. 

 

“This? It’s just a project of mine. I’ve been doing it in my spare time when I realized I could make the science mobile. Faster, more efficient. More powerful.” Tesla answered, the excitement and eagerness in his voice was endearing. 

 

“He’s been asking you to do a lot lately, hasn’t he?” Curie noted, sitting back in her chair. 

 

“You know how Churchill gets when he gets carried away. He gets an idea in his head and he goes on for hours about all these plans and preparations he needs. Preparations we have to make.” Tesla griped about their current boss. He couldn’t pretend he didn’t like the drive of working long hours over a project. He didn’t appreciate how picky Churchill could be, how he liked to breathe down his neck and look over his shoulder. 

 

“You mean how he’s all ‘Marie do this’, ‘Marie do that’, ‘what do you mean not enough time has passed? You’re scientists make it go faster.’” Marie mocked in her best impression of Churchill’s voice. 

 

Tesla chuckled at her impression. “I can’t expect Churchill to really understand the fine innerworkings and constraints we must work around as scientists.” 

 

It was rather infuriating how Churchill held such tight deadlines for them, but she understood. A war was a war and any advantage was necessary. Between getting a head start on your opponent's and scrambling to plan the best you could, Curie knew he was working with his own constraints. 

 

It could be limiting. 

Frustrating.

Suffocating.

 

They were scientists, yes, they were tasked with understanding the unwritten laws of reality and crafting them to do what was desired of them. Yet they were researchers at heart as well. They sought to understand more, to follow the paths their discoveries had unlocked, to see just how far down the rabbit hole went. 

 

For that they needed time to work. 

 

Time Churchill could be unrelenting to give. 

 

_ Time. _

 

“I’m not like that, am I?” Curie asked, looking away from the blueprints, into Tesla’s own blue eyes. 

 

He  seemed to be taken aback, confused by the question.

 

“It’s true I could have spent time perfecting my engines, working on my personal projects. There  _ is  _ a reason I prefer to work alone, rather than with others.” He began.

 

Curie felt herself droop, just the slightest at his response. She’d known, always had the suspicion that this might be the case. Yet she went and tore him away from his work anyway.

 

“But! I do not consider you to be an interference. No, instead, I appreciate your work and your assistance. You may not be an engineer, but you are very diligent in your work. Not to mention, you’re very clean.”

 

He laughed reassuringly. “No worry of germs here!” 

 

Curie sat up, folding her arms. Not from annoyance but from consideration.

 

“So, you don’t find my presence irritating? Or...or distracting?” She inquired quizzically. Curie had hoped that was the case, that their little talks weren’t detrimental. That they both wanted these little visits to continue. There was a part of her that couldn’t wrap her mind around it. That their least social member of the group was not only willing but wanting these little breaks to happen in his free time where he could have been studying or feeding his birds.

 

“Of course not. Out of everyone here, I’m most comfortable with you.” 

 

Curie felt a smile spread across her face. A small but genuine smile. 

 

“I appreciate your company. A lot.” 

  
  



End file.
